CORRECTED-SoftBank upsizes deal in US high-yield market

April 18 (IFR) - Japanese mobile carrier SoftBank hasattracted significant demand for its new bond offering, part ofwhich may be used to finance its proposed acquisition of Sprint.

The two-tranche dual-currency deal clearly found the bulk ofdemand from US dollar investors, allowing for an upsize toUSD3.1bn from USD2bn.

The deal from SoftBank is split between USD2.485bnand EUR625m in seven-year notes. The dollar tranche priced at acoupon of 4.50% and the euro tranche at 4.625%. Both wereoriginally talked at 4.5% to 4.75%.

Deutsche Bank is global coordinator. Deutsche, BofA Merrill,Credit Agricole, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley and Nomura are jointbookrunners on the dollar tranche, while Deutsche Bank, CreditAgricole, Mizuho and Nomura are joint bookrunners on the eurotranche.

Barclays is no longer part of the SoftBank financing teamand is now lead adviser on Dish's rival bid for Sprint.

The SoftBank deal is expected to be rated Ba1 or Ba2 byMoody's and BB+ by Standard and Poor's pending the acquisitionof Sprint.

Proceeds of the deal, concurrent with its equity offering,will be used to fund a portion of the previously announcedacquisition of oil and natural gas assets in the Permian Basinfrom Comstock Resources, as well as repay borrowings under therevolver and for general corporate purposes.

If the purchase is terminated prior to that time, thecompany will redeem the notes in cash at 100% of the aggregateprincipal amount of the notes. Investor call Tuesday, pricingexpected later this week.

The secondary market started the session on a downbeat noteafter weaker-than-expected economic data triggered more concernsabout the global economy. At midday, the high-yield CDX HY20down 1/8 of a point at 103.84375/103.96875.